I have been up all night. I am at home watching the live feed of the eviction. I was at Lincoln Park in Denver until about midnight last night when I had to leave. The police chose to delay the eviction until much of the crowd had left.

We had a general assembly as usual at 7pm. We were told that we could not camp in the park but could be there from 5am to 11pm. Many of us felt that this was fine and wanted the tents taken down and to leave by 11. It became clear that there were many who felt that they needed to make a stand and risk arrest. So the rest of us chose our way of standing in solidarity with their right to make that choice. We expected the eviction at 11 so I waited to witness but then the police decided to wait until people were tired and the crowd had thinned. At that point I had to leave to get back to take care of responsibilities.

The police moved in at 3:15 and began taking down tents and moving the people. Both the protesters and the police expressed incredible restraint. Around 6:30am the remaining protesters were making a stand in front of the kitchen structure and some were arrested. These were the first arrests during the process. The final protesters were truly the most belligerent and least on message people which really doesn't help. We have had a mixed bag of media coverage based on misinformed ideas of what our movement is about. For example one gentleman interviewed who was not part of Occupy Denver and said that we wanted to 'get rid of capitalism' which is completely false. There may be some 'individuals' who do have that goal but it is not shared by a majority of our group.

Because of those that insisted on being evicted the park has been closed permanently to us. However we will be meeting today as usual perhaps right across the street in city park. I will be leading a forum on Vision, Mission, and Goals using a modified version of Open Space Technology on Sunday and I hope to move us closer to a unified vision that may help people to start separating our individual goals that may or may not fit into the movement directly and those that are a hindrance to movement and need to be held separately for now in order to better serve the greater good. I am working hard to inform people by handing out a flyer that gives a short definition and example of vision, mission, and goals and showing up at as many general assemblies as possible and getting this posted to the calendar hoping for significant participation.

I plan to use big, long, giant sheets of paper to let people walk over and write down the issues that are most important to them right at the beginning. Most of these will be goals but it seems that people really want to be heard as far as their individual passions so I hope to get some of that out right away. From there I will move to vision and let anyone who has a vision in mind to write those down and we will work on vision. If we are really lucky, we might get a proposal on vision completed and start work on mission... we'll see. But I seriously hope to see us become more unified and to give people an opportunity to see how these things fit together i.e. where do our individual issues/causes fit in with the group and what we feel a majority of Americans can support. Ambitious yes.

Having written that the last of the people are fighting with the police who push them to the other side of the main street but then as they were going to leave the protesters attempted to return to the park side. More arrests officers pushed them back across the street. It's hard to see how this helps our movement. I hope this will spur a big shift in our group.

But I have been proud of both sides of the conflict for their non violence. The police showed great restraint.

I need some sleep

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Update: Apparently we are no meeting on the other side of Broadway across the street from where we were in Civic Center Park which is owned by the City. Lincoln park is owned by the state. I suspect we may be challenged if we try to erect structures like the kitchen, security station, medic station, and info booth but we'll see. I am not sure where the mayor stands on this movement.

I agree that civil disobedience should be non-violent. However, the point is to be disobedient. I'm confused as to why you should consider a public park "closed permanently to [you]"?

I guess my two points are:

1. It's a public park. It's YOUR park. This is YOUR country. Do what you want with both. Don't let the mayor/governor/whomever tell The People what to do. We tell them what we want them to do. Occupying a public park should not even be considered a form of civil disobedience.

2. If you feel the absolute need to obey every command from authority (even though that authority is granted by you), I still say the right thing to do is be disobedient. This movement is about taking back what is ours. The political process was meant to represent the needs and desires of the American People. It has ceased to be effective at its sole purpose. Considering the park "off limits" sends the wrong message, that we will back down. Don't back down! You are in the right! You have the authority of 99% of the public!

Well your perspective was certainly represented by many who stayed to resist last night. Others of us felt that we had more effective ways to serve our greater movement than simply by fighting for the right to camp there overnight. 18 hours a day is plenty for me. I can't be there all of the time. We lost our kitchen, info booth, security booth, and medic station which had been accepted before the tents started going up. We can assert our right if we want to keep getting into conflict with the police and legal conflicts but the fact is that OWS is on private property. The park was on state property and the hours of operation for the park were 5am to 11pm so they charged people with trespassing. Lawyers from the National Lawyer's Guild are defending those who were arrested.

We simply disagree on what is most effective. I don't think we needed the tents. We had all day presence there without them. I am willing to risk arrest for an injustice I feel strongly about. Camping overnight in the state park is not one of them.

Actually I have a democratic representative ( no suprise there, Boulder County), and democratic Governor, and both of our senators are democrats. Not very liberal democrats but nothing like Nelson. But there is certainly a political power struggle in my state

plan to use big, long, giant sheets of paper to let people walk over and write down the issues that are most important to them right at the beginning...

I am not sure why but I really like this. hahaha

Grafitti.

Graffiti (singular: graffito; the plural is used as a mass noun) is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. Graffiti is any type of public markings that may appear in the forms of simple written words to elaborate wall paintings. Graffiti has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. (Wiki)

Occupy Wall Street’s ‘Political Disobedience’

It throws out a question ... how does one react when the political system has an agenda alien to that of the public that elects them?

I hear Obama and the Democrats are thinking how to use the protest as a wedge issue against the GOPer's, however, I don't think they realize the protest also includes the Democrats inability to right the wrongs the GOPer's made in the first place. In fact, they're just as complicit as the GOPer's ... they've hand their hands in the cookie jar and passed out the goodies to the business sectors too.

In other words, the global morass is the result of governments giving into commercial interests at the expense of the public they serve with empty promises the wealth will trickle down and all ships rise on the tides of profits.

So how does one protest the politics that drive the unemployment figures higher, wages lower and evaporate benefits and retirements? It's now known the problem will not be solved by Congress because the commercial interest control enough of them to pigeonhole any bill to would disrupt their control over the legislative process and force them to repatriate employee lost wages and benefits.

I guess the best way to sum it up would be to say the Own Wall Street protest is an indictment against all members of Congress by the public they're suppose to be serving.

I think we need to protest peacefully. I had to stay away from the crowds due to my health, but the number of police and riot gear officers seemed excessive. It looked like there were more cops than protestors at a couple of points.

The problem is huge, complex, and hard to pin down or attack. I'll do my bit to advocate for a sustainable lifestyle--and small houses...

And I applaud your efforts. Obviously, this has garnered more support than the Tea Party--let's hold everyone accountable!

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The murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov: “The investigation is considering several versions,” the statements said. The first it listed was: “a murder as a provocation to destabilize the political situation in the country, where the figure of Nemtsov could have become a sort of sacrificial victim for those who stop at nothing to achieve their political goals.” Putin has said he will "personally oversee" the investigation.

GOP Anti-vaxxer: Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Georgia Republican.....chair of a key congressional subcommittee on science and technology...responding to a woman who asked whether he'd be looking into...if the (CDC) had covered up information linking vaccines to autism. He responded with a rather unscientific personal anecdote: "I believe it's the parents' decision whether to immunize or not…Most of our children, we didn't immunize. They're healthy."

The culture wars continued: Avijit Roy, whose Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog championed liberal secular writing in the Muslim-majority nation, attacked along with his wife in Dhaka...Roy, said to be around 40, is the second Bangladeshi blogger to have been murdered in two years and the fourth writer to have been attacked since 2004. Hardline Islamist groups have long demanded the public execution of atheist bloggers and sought new laws to combat writing critical of Islam....